You are God’s building.
If we are God's building then we should be defined by worship and not by vendors and money-changers. We must be responsible for this building and what goes on here. We can't allow ourselves to fall into disrepair on the pretense that we are our own to do with as we please.
Do you not know that you are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
If anyone destroys God’s temple,
God will destroy that person;
for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.
Jesus says, "Zeal for your house will consume me." He is zealous for his Father's house. And, somehow, miraculously, this describes us more than even the physical temple in Jerusalem. The presence of God is intimately real in Christians , especially through the sacraments. We are not merely our own anymore.
For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord (cf. Rom. 14:7-8).
We need to take to heart what Paul tells us, "You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body" (cf. 1 Cor. 6:19-20).
We are being built together as living stones into a temple holy to the LORD (cf. 1 Pet. 2:5). When we approach our lives this way, designed for someone other than ourselves to be at the center on the throne, we experience the joy that comes from God's presence.
God is our refuge and our strength,
an ever-present help in distress.
When God reigns on the thrones of our lives we become places where others can experience the presence of God. We become sources of the living water which flows first from the side of Christ and then from the hearts of those who believe (cf. Joh. 7:28).
Wherever the river flows,
every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live,
and there shall be abundant fish,
for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.
If we are not zealous for God's house and allow it to fall into disrepair we risk that his presence will depart from us, drying the streams meant to gladden our city. So let us invite Jesus himself to chase the money changers from our hearts. Let us ask him to bring even the whip if necessary to drive from us the idols which usurp his rightful place on the throne. We can be zealous for him because of his zeal for us. We can trust him no matter how big of a repair project we need. We may seem destined for inevitable collapse but even death need not stop him.
“Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”
He is zealous for us, wants to dwell in us, and there is nothing that can stop him. Nothing except us. So let us welcome him, knowing that the whip of cords makes way for the living waters which he wants to flow from us.
There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God,
the holy dwelling of the Most High.
God is in its midst; it shall not be disturbed;
God will help it at the break of dawn.
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